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[gouravk]

hmm

ultimately the difference was just 2 big hits.

but we need to pull up our socks here.

[Aloo Kashmiri Ul Haq]

Flintoff is useless.......and Morkel was useless anyway.

Badri, if he is playing at all should be batting at no 4....in place Dhoni.....and Dhoni can come at Morkel's place.

Also I cannot fathom how a player like Jogi can be in ANY TEAM let alone the runner up of the IPL. He has to be replaced by either of R Ashwin or Vidyut. The latter has a good domestic record as well.

I also think that they could do with someone besides Parthiv at the top of the order. I believe they have Abhinav Mukund who opens for TN in the Ranjis

Yes, Parthiv is almost an anti-climax along with Hayden, inspite of all his bluster......may be Badri can fit in there.

I was thinking that too. But then who gets into the middle order?

[Blwe_torch]

Flintoff is useless.......and Morkel was useless anyway.

Badri, if he is playing at all should be batting at no 4....in place Dhoni.....and Dhoni can come at Morkel's place.

Also I cannot fathom how a player like Jogi can be in ANY TEAM let alone the runner up of the IPL. He has to be replaced by either of R Ashwin or Vidyut. The latter has a good domestic record as well.

I also think that they could do with someone besides Parthiv at the top of the order. I believe they have Abhinav Mukund who opens for TN in the Ranjis

Yes, Parthiv is almost an anti-climax along with Hayden, inspite of all his bluster......may be Badri can fit in there.

I was thinking that too. But then who gets into the middle order?

Arre.....in 20-20 you need not worry about a formal middle-order. It is better for the slower-Test type batsmen to bat up the order, so that they can get the opportunity to get their eye in, and contribute meaningfully. Morkel and Flintoff have been very disappointing in the middle order.

[Cover Point]

we won .... but the bloody idiot Sehwag has some serious ego and captaincy issues.

He lost us the second test match. and almost lost us this game.

why is the freaking Naanos in the team!!! And who doesnt play the Wrath? The guy was the most economical player last year.
 
that in a team this year which is low on bowling. Batting can only carry you so much. you will find times when the batting will fail to click. where is the bowling to support.

Sehwag is an idiot of the highest kind. And what is Nehra doing? Terrible bowling at the start. I too can bowl wide outside leg stump!!!

Does Delhi have a coach ? Or is She-wag dog doing it all?

[justforkix]

ha ha.. my prediction for DD was 181..  and for CSK 154.. lets see

wow - mine was 181 too for DD. But 165 for CSK !!!

[justforkix]

why is the freaking Naanos in the team!!! And who doesnt play the Wrath? The guy was the most economical player last year.

yes, this is even worse than KKR not playing Mendis, but even they fixed that today !!

[12th_Man]

hmm

ultimately the difference was just 2 big hits.

but we need to pull up our socks here.

That typically will be the difference in two balanced sides in T20 IMO.

[cricket_news]

Almost perfection
23 April 2009, 4:50 pm



Is there such a thing as the perfectly-paced Twenty20 innings? Does this format even allow for its existence? Well today, at Kingsmead, AB de Villiers came very close to perfection.

When he came in to bat there were 119 balls left in the innings. By the end of the second over he had to reckon with the pressure of the fall of the mighty Delhi Daredevils openers, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Can one really spend time consolidating in Twenty20?

"I wanted to give myself the chance to express myself at the end of the innings," said de Villiers, reflecting back on that moment. "I did very well in my first 30 balls to knock it around, I got the odd boundary. My 50 wasn't too slow. I did scratch around a little bit."

Of those 30 deliveries, de Villiers faced ten from Muttiah Muralitharan. With the team situation he wasn't going to take any undue risks against the class spinner. Luckily de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan was charging ahead like a runaway train and gave him some breathing space. de Villiers could drop anchor, not in the conventional 50-overs sense, but keep nudging the ball around with the odd big hit. It was a sign of his maturity that he adopted the support role. He was relatively quiet till he crossed 50 when another slice of luck came his way - Albie Morkel dropped a sitter. de Villiers turned violent from then on.

When you see de Villiers swinging to the on side, it rarely looks a slog. The bat swings down gracefully and the body position is perfect. When you freeze-frame him in his stance, it reminds one of the sepia-toned pictures of past cricketers from another age. Look at the left foot. It is almost pointing towards mid-off.

de Villiers is probably the only top batsman in modern-day cricket with such a technique. He comes closest to mirroring musty photographs of batsmen with their front feet point down the pitch while in stance. That allows for a free swing of the bat and de Villiers rarely gets cramped with an incoming ball. Others waste precious seconds in opening up from a side-on stance. Not de Villiers.

In theory, it might cause him trouble with the away-seaming delivery as he would be slightly

playing away from the body. But it's a perfect position to be in for the off-drives and when you are swinging to the on side. As he showed today, looting 79 runs on the leg side, with 47 coming in the midwicket arc.

His best was reserved for Andrew Flintoff, who had another poor day on the field. The 19th over went for two sixes and two fours, with a swept six and a pulled four on bent knee being the highlights. What was de Villiers thinking then? "I respect him [Flintoff] as a bowler. He's a truly amazing bowler," he said. "It was my day today and things just happened according to plan. My shots came off and things happened according to plan."

Of late, most of de Villiers' plans are coming to fruition. At the start of the summer, he said he wanted to be the No. 1 player in the world and by the end of the season, he has walked the talk. If

Perth was the pinnacle of his Test batting, today at Durban fans were treated to the best of him in Twenty20. He has talked about the transformation before and stressed the secret again today.

"I have kept it really simple. I just think of couple of things while batting.  I spend lot of time with Jacques Kallis in the changing room; he has lots of experience and helped me a lot. Also, I am lot stronger mentally and just playing my game."

"Keeping things simple and expressing myself," translates to an uncluttered mind and a great

confidence and awareness of one own's game. They are the traits of a top sportsman and de Villiers is hell bent on showing he is one of them. And he is.

Karna S is a freelance cricket writer



Source: India news from Cricinfo

[keep-it-cool]

I don't understand this fuss over Badri. Why should he bat ahead of any of the following in a T20 match?

Hayden
Raina
Flintoff
Dhoni
Morkel

That leaves only Parthiv - right at the top - where he appears to be doing well in the last 2 matches. Flintoff disappointed - but it has been only 3 matches! If anything, they should push Morkel up to open maybe with Hayden. Other than that, I wouldn't change anything.

[keep-it-cool]

But this appeared to be a clash of heavyweights.

CSK is just unlucky to have run into two of the best teams in the tournament early on - Mumbai Indians and Delhi Daredevils

[armchair_critic]

I don't understand this fuss over Badri. Why should he bat ahead of any of the following in a T20 match?

Hayden
Raina
Flintoff
Dhoni
Morkel

That leaves only Parthiv - right at the top - where he appears to be doing well in the last 2 matches. Flintoff disappointed - but it has been only 3 matches! If anything, they should push Morkel up to open maybe with Hayden. Other than that, I wouldn't change anything.

I think a better strategy is to have a batting order where anchors are mixed with hitters.
Else you have scenario like today where there were no hitters at the death.
I would sandwich badri between flintoff and dhoni

[Aloo Kashmiri Ul Haq]

I don't understand this fuss over Badri. Why should he bat ahead of any of the following in a T20 match?

Hayden
Raina
Flintoff
Dhoni
Morkel

That leaves only Parthiv - right at the top - where he appears to be doing well in the last 2 matches. Flintoff disappointed - but it has been only 3 matches! If anything, they should push Morkel up to open maybe with Hayden. Other than that, I wouldn't change anything.

Not sure if you consider an average close to 20 with a SR hovering around 120 good enough. I definitely think that there is room for improvement. You could make a case for someone like Parthiv because of his ability to rotate the strike and render stability to someone like Haydos. Along the same lines, you need someone like Badri, a person who is technically much more compact than the likes of Morkel, Flintoff and Dhoni to offer stability to the middle order.

So, let's say if Hayden and Parthiv are opening and the former is the first to get out, I wouldn't send Badri in. But, if the latter is the one to get out, then Badri should be sent it. I also think that Dhoni should cease to try to play the role of the sheet anchor and go for his shots.

[gouravk]

parthiv is a baby. he should go back to his pram 

[keep-it-cool]

An avg of 20 with a SR of 120 is fair when you are opening with Hayden. Besides, ignore the first match and those numbers would look better, I guess. As I said, its been only 3 matches. If PP plays, I prefer him over Badri to open. Dhoni sandwiching himself between the big hitters (at No 4) is good enough to give stability in my view - he's done that umpteen times in the past. Else, you'd be just wasting the likes of Morkel at No 7 or 8. I don't think there is too much tweaking required just coz you lost to two of the strongest teams - and that too, so closely in one of them.

[gouravk]

REPEAT: parthiv is a baby. he should go back to his pram 

[Cover Point]

I would back the Madrasis. CSK is a seriously good team. They have a good balance of batting and bowling. They have the bludgeoning Hayden and Morkel and flintoff and Dhoni. Bowling with Murali, Flintoff is really serious.

Delhi is one dimensional. They have great batting ... probably the best ... bowling (specially without Wrath) is really weak. Just Vettori is good ... and everyone else is poor. If Wrath can play (instead of Nannes) and play well then we have a chance ... and we still need someone else to support Sangwan. We probably have the poorest bowling.

You cant consistently expect to chase down 200! It just doesnt work that way

[keep-it-cool]

Well DD can try to balance things by playing Maharoof in place of Dilshan and of course bring Mcgrath in place of Nannes. Maybe Mcgrath is not at his best given that he's been out of active cricket for so long - and maybe that was evident in the nets. I also wonder what happened to Rajat Bhatia.

[Blwe_torch]

REPEAT: parthiv is a baby. he should go back to his pram 

I hope, CSK try Badri in place of PP for opening along with Hayden. That's where Badri can do the justice to himself and to the team too.
PP looks talented but 'still-not-there' type......just like Agarkar in KKR.

[justforkix]

I don't understand this fuss over Badri. Why should he bat ahead of any of the following in a T20 match?

Hayden
Raina
Flintoff
Dhoni
Morkel

That leaves only Parthiv - right at the top - where he appears to be doing well in the last 2 matches. Flintoff disappointed - but it has been only 3 matches! If anything, they should push Morkel up to open maybe with Hayden. Other than that, I wouldn't change anything.

Badri should definitely bat ahead of Flintoff. Badri had played well at a good s/r in quite a few games in last IPL and Flintoff is no longer a batsman he once was.

My order will be :

Hayden
Vijay
Raina
Badri
MSD
Albe
Flintof/Oram
Gony
Ashwin
Murali/Ntini
Balaji

Albe will always be my floater and should be unleashed as the finisher. Otherwise, rest of the lineup can be fixed.

[gouravk]

Anyway Flintoff will soon be gone.

[12th_Man]

Anyway Flintoff will soon be gone.

When is he going ? Was it 6 matches ?

[gouravk]

yeah .. 6 matches i think ... other than one bowling spell against BRC he has been useless so far. hope he puts in a stellar performance in the next game.

[flashpan]

Well , actually Flintoff is actually Gone

Allrounder out of IPL
Flintoff returns home to undergo surgery
Cricinfo staff
April 24, 2009
Andrew Flintoff has returned home from the Indian Premier League to undergo surgery on a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Flintoff had been appearing for Chennai Super KIngs in the IPL when he felt discomfort in his right knee. The Chennai medical staff immediately contacted ECB Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Peirce

Scans were taken of the right knee in a Durban hospital and they detected a slight medial meniscal tear in the knee and after these scans were viewed by Nick Peirce, radiologists the surgeon it was decided that Flintoff should return to London.

He will undergo an operation early next week and surgeons are confident that he should recover from the keyhole surgery within three to five weeks.

Clearly this is a huge disappointment for both the player and the IPL team," Peirce said. "This sort of degenerative injury though is one that could have happened at any time any where. The procedures we put in place meant that the ECB medical staff were alerted about the problem immediately and we thank Chennai for their co operation."

Hugh Morris, the ECB's managing director of cricket, added: "Andrew has been extremely unlucky with injuries but if there is one saving grace it is that the injury has occured now rather than on the eve of either the ICC World Twenty20 or the Ashes.

"Having the surgery now means that Flintoff should be available for both those events although he is certain to miss the Test series against the West Indies."

© Cricinfo

[ramshorns]

I think this falls under one of the most boneheaded signings ever for the price tag CSK paid for Flintoff.  This guy we all know will never be fully fit given the extent and number of injuries he has had over the last few years.  He is like a disruption to  a team never knowing when he will break down thus affecting the team chemistry.  He is a nice guy and all and plays with a big heart but in the cruel world of sports fitness is part of the game.

[Cover Point]

this is good news for Delhi and Mumbai .... one of the main competitors gets cut down. Now if we can do something about that Hayden then the madrasis will be put in their place

[justforkix]

this is actually good news - Oram can play from the next game onwards, but MSD like an idiot will continue to bat Badri at #7 !!!!

[gouravk]

i doubt oram will be a like for like swap. he is likely to bat much better. but not sure of the bowling. he can do even worse than what freddie did

[justforkix]

it will be tough to do worse than 0-50(4) and 1-44(4) !!

[12th_Man]

it will be tough to do worse than 0-50(4) and 1-44(4) !!

Are you challenging Oram's potential? Let him bowl against the likes of VS,Haydo, GIlly,Gayle etc. He might fullfil your wishes.
So.. Freddie left few mathces early. This will makes CSK team look more stronger than prev matches.

[poondu]

Oram has been in poor batting form recently. Don't know what he can contribute with the bat...

[keep-it-cool]

The four foreigners I would pick are Hayden, Albie, Murali and one among the other options (Oram being the front runner)